The National Center for Learning Disabilities and the Stern Center for Language and Learning are pleased to co-sponsor this series of four Early Literacy Webinars, based on the Stern Center's BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LITERACY® program. Each 60-minute webinar, designed for early childhood educators, child care providers, and families, will provide participants with a sampler introducing them to the free online BUILDING BLOCKS program. The webinar topics are as follows:

Early Literacy Research and Language DevelopmentThe evidence is in and it is compelling! We can help prepare children for reading success during the preschool years. This first in our series of BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LITERACY® webinars will share the research on which this professional development program is based and proven. It will also focus on the important role of oral language development to reading and spelling achievement. Participants will learn why phonology, vocabulary, syntax and pragmatics are all important to young children’s getting ready to enter kindergarten eager to learn. Listening, speaking, reading and writing will be shared as interrelated activities that all have language at the base. View the webinar.

Shared Book ReadingEmphasizing Vocabulary Reading with children provides valuable opportunities for enriching vocabulary, comprehension, and conversation. Viewers will learn strategies for maximizing these foundational skills through shared book reading. They will also find out how to increase children's understanding of concepts of print, how books work, and the wonders of letters and words on a page. Activities from the online BUILDING BLOCKS program that can help prepare children to become motivated, equipped, and successful readers will be demonstrated. View the webinar.

Phonological (Sound) Awareness Phonological awareness, the insight that our spoken language can be broken up into individual parts, is one of the strongest indicators of future reading success. Viewers will learn how to use explicit play-based strategies and songs from the online BUILDING BLOCKS program in everyday situations to encourage children's understanding of rhyme, syllable, and sound awareness and build strong early literacy sklls. View the webinar.

Speech-to-Print Connection, Including Alphabet KnowledgeChildren can be empowered to match what they know best, speech, with what they need to learn to read, print. The ability to connect individual sounds with letter representations is a powerful predictor of future reading and spelling skills. Activities from the online BUILDING BLOCKS program that strengthen letter naming, recognition, and the sound-to-letter correspondence will be shared. View the webinar.

Suggested Tip!

Read Books New Ways

Does it feel like you’ve read the same story 100 times? Read it a new way: Ask the child questions about what they think will happen next and encourage them to tell you what they see in the illustrations. Learn more >